Mother's Day Mayhem
by truephan
Summary: After PP. Two shot. OC. Ah, Mother's Day! Such a sentimental, tender family holiday. Don't you just have such fond memories of yours? But I bet not like the one in which mischievous ghosts end up causing, well, mayhem for Danny Phantom and his ghost-fighting mother.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hiya, all you Danny Phantom phans in phandom (say that fast 3 times!). Man, have I missed doing this! And I'm pheeling so silly right now that I think I should write all the words starting with 'f' with a 'ph' instead in honor of our phavorite half-ghost! Ahem. Back to the story. I have been mulling over this story phor way too long now but I phinally got off my phanny and wrote it! I never meant it to be a long story like most of my stories are, mainly because it was meant only phor Mother's Day—or a you can see, also phor the day** _ **before**_ **Mother's Day, which is today! And if you know me at all, you know that all of my stories are serial and interconnected to each other; and so, it should be no surprise to you when I tell you that there a phew little spoilers if you haven't read my story,** _ **Gold Tested in Fire. (Yep, I purposely didn't put a 'ph' in that last word of the title of my story because, after all, it is a real title of a story! XD)**_ **Just giving y'all phair warning! But I also want everyone in the whole wide webworld to know that I'm dedicating this story to Vivid Obscurity, AKA Distant Radiance, who wrote to me a few months back and encouraged me to get off my butt and write again. And, of course, a huge thank you to my awesome beta, pearl84 phor all of her priceless help; and to my just as awesome phriend, Angelus-alvus phor helping me with the summary… And so, don't phorget the silly little disclaimer that I don't own Danny Phantom or its cannon characters. But I DO own this story and the OC in it! Well, no more phun and games! Time phor the show. Enjoy!**

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Mother's Day Mayhem

(When Mom's not happy, it's scary!)

Chapter 1—Unexpected Visit

Jack and Maddie Fenton and their son, Danny, were gathered around a small table in the Fenton lab. The adults were very excited about sharing some information with their half-ghost son and were insistent that he come at once. Still, at first, it seemed to Danny that it was not starting off on the right foot…

"I'm sorry that I won't be able to finish getting you that Mother's Day gift, sweetcakes, but we're working on it," Jack Fenton said to his wife with a slight frown.

Maddie smiled sympathetically at her husband. She had the goal of getting thirty ghosts' information compiled in their computer's memory banks by Mother's Day, which was tomorrow. But it wasn't meant to be. Still, she was not disappointed as she then replied encouragingly, "That's all right, hon, but like you said, it's getting there anyways, which is all I wanted anyways."

Danny frowned in confusion when his mother was now smiling; but before he could comment, his mother just continued.

"Still, we did get up to nineteen ghosts whom we have gotten dossiers on," Maddie Fenton said with some glee in her voice as she pushed a button on her laptop. But then turning her eyes to her son, she added, "What do you think about our list, Danny?"

Danny opened his mouth to reply that she hadn't shown him the list yet, but once again got interrupted.

"Yesiree, that Boo-merang is turning out to be the best invention so far, especially when _I_ , Jack Fenton, invented it!" Jack immediately piped in with a prideful grin.

"Right, hon," his wife patiently replied as she finally turned the computer screen toward their blue-eyed son and added a bit sheepishly to him, "I wish I could say that most of the ghosts we used the boo-merang to track, catch and interview were, uh, _good_ ghosts, Danny, but they weren't—though _some_ are, of course!"

Before Danny could examine what was on the computer screen or comment on what his mother had said yet again, his father hurriedly continued, "And, oh, we forgot to tell you, Danny! We found out that it's much easier to program the Boo-merang using the 'Spook Snoop' **1**!"

"The what?" Danny blurted out, clueless.

"The Spook Snoop!" Maddie beamed in as she suddenly and inexplicably whipped out the device seemingly out of thin air. "It's yet another gift your father gave me for Mother's Day and it takes the guesswork out of identifying the ghosts' ectoplasmic signature!"

"Yeah, usually we have to just play around with the Boo-merang's dials until we 'tune into' a ghost's signature, you know, just like those old fashioned radios your grandparents had," Jack added. "It was a real hit-and-miss kind of thing and sometimes the dial would just stay stuck on one ghost."

Danny reflexively rubbed the back of his head at the memories when he was the object of that stuck dial! But he had no more time to think about that, because his parents weren't finished yet and it was his mother's turn…

"And the Spook Snoop is even easier to use than the Boo-merang to hone in on ghosts because it uses stealth laser beams to target and analyze a ghost's ectoplasmic signature! We don't even have to see the ghost—and they don't even know they are being scanned—or even harmed—with it!"

With a big goofy grin on his face, the man went on, "Yeah, get it, Danny? That device really _snoops_ on spooks, er, ghosts, so I let your mother name in honor of her special day…." And just as he wrapped his arm around his wife's waist, he added with a bigger and goofier grin, "But really, every day is special with her in it!"

Danny stifled his groan but didn't really have any chance to protest since his father had quickly let go of his mother and continued, "Anyways, even with that cool new gizmo and all, our compiling all of this stuff on ghosts is still going slower and harder than we expected, son, because, heh-heh, well, the ghosts haven't been _exactly_ cooperative when we ask for information."

Danny mentally rolled his eyes in slight amusement this time when his father paused and frowned in thought all of the sudden. The teen could have told them all they wanted to know the easy way—which was _his_ _hard_ way! Still, he really didn't know why his parents nearly always equated all of their latest projects as 'gifts' to each other, and would name them in honor of the nearest celebration—this 'Mother's Day' gift being no exception. But, then again, he never really knew why his parents pursued _just about all_ of their projects anyways—except that, well, they were his parents! He mentally shook his head at his next thought. Geez, and he thought his mother would only want her favorite perfume for her special day! Still, his parents seemed to roll with it and he might as well, too. Nevertheless, his father still interrupted his trying to at least glance at the computer screen.

Scratching his head in bewilderment, Jack finally rattled on, "Yeah, it's kind of spooky…heh-heh. Ahem, I mean, most of them were too busy spouting off old clichés or just too angry to talk at first. " The orange-suited man puckered his face in concern as he added, "Why, we apologized right away that we hadn't meant for the Boo-merang to knock them out. I thought I had finally calibrated it to stop a few feet from the ghost it honed in on…Hmm…Or maybe I need to recalibrate the Spook Snoop?...Uh, looks like I might have to check on that soon..."

Maddie and Danny tried to stifle their giggles as they remembered what happened the last time their loved one try to calibrate the toaster oven…

But since there had been a pause among the three shortly after his father's comment, Danny finally got the chance to look at the information that his mother had been trying to show him since he had gotten here…

The teen smirked when he saw Technus's name beside the 'spouting off too many old clichés' comment and Ember's being identified as 'just too angry to talk'. He unconsciously nodded his head when his eyes glanced further down the list—and was secretly glad that his parents hadn't encountered any particularly powerful ghost. But then he frowned when he hadn't even gotten halfway down the page. His brow furrowed more when he thought he spied a _mistake_ on the same line as well.

Pointing to the place on the screen, he asked, "Who is this 'Oddbody family' you have listed right here, Mom? And why did you repeat yourself there? Is that some kind of typo?"

"Oh, you don't know them, sweetie?" she replied with slight excitement to only his first question. What a great Mother's Day gift, too! _She_ knew someone new in the Ghost Zone that her son didn't know!"

Danny shook his head.

The woman said, "Well, it was just last week when the Spook Snoop detected this 'Level Three' family, and, of course, we used the Boo-merang to find them."

Jack gingerly added, "Fortunately for the ghosts this time, the Boo-merang slammed into their house rather than one of them!"

"And, of course," his mother continued, "We immediately wrote down the address of their home before we got to talk to them, well, really, we only got to talk to the mother."

"Ghosts have actual addresses?" Danny couldn't help but blurt out, once again surprised. He quickly glanced at the computer screen and hitched up the left side of his mouth in slight disappointment in himself. He hadn't noticed those notes when he read the list, but especially didn't know about ghost _addresses._

Maddie grinned again. Her son was already giving her an early Mother's Day gift since, again, this was yet another little detail about the Ghost Zone that he didn't know!

"Well, we couldn't have discovered that ourselves if you hadn't lent us your Ghost Zone map, sweetie. It was a great start; and it really makes a lot of sense when you get the hang of it," she replied, encouragingly. But she really didn't want to go into all that right now since she was more excited to tell her son about those ghosts.

"But anyways, sweetie, we finally got to meet Mrs. Oddbody. She was very nice and invited us into her home for tea and cookies. It must have been very special because she served the tea with what she said was a very priceless heirloom tea set."

"Yeah, that, and she was very excited and told us that she hardly got any visitors, much less any _human_ ones until we came along," Jack chimed in. "And the best news is that all that ghost food filled me up but didn't make me gain any weight!"

Maddie and Danny grinned at that remark. After all, their loved one had been working on losing weight since last Father's Day and especially since the latest Vlad affair, and he was making remarkable progress.

Maddie then remarked, "In any case, Danny, I'm glad we met her because I have to say that we were getting a little discouraged with all of the ghosts we have met so far, because, uh…" She paused a bit. She really didn't want to upset her son, but she always told the truth. She hesitantly continued, "Don't get us wrong, sweetie, but we usually ended up having to use our weapons when we were trying to leave."

"No offense taken, Mom," Danny softly chuckled. "I totally get where you're coming from."

After all, the young hybrid knew only too well that most of his encounters with ghosts involved using his own weapons to some degree.

His mother smiled weakly and said in relief, "Thanks, sweetie." After all, ever since she had learned about Danny's secret, she had become more sympathetic toward ghosts and now focused all of her efforts concerning ghosts to help her son.

"Well, let me finish telling you about her, then. Mrs. Oddbody was very chatty about her family. And she had a wonderful sense of humor, too. She said her husband was a junk dealer and had to be gone for long periods of time collecting, er, all of that junk. So, she thought their name was very apropos to her husband's odd collection of junk.

" _At least it wasn't an odd collection of bodies!"_ Danny couldn't help but think with amusement before his father interrupted his musings.

"Don't know where he kept the stuff, though," Jack interjected, "'cause the place was spotless!"

"Don't you remember, hon, that Mrs. Oddbody said they had a huge basement that he used as his junkyard?" his wife replied.

Jack scratched his head in thought but then sheepishly said, "Uh, sorry, sweetcakes, but I must have been more interested in sampling her snacks at that point than I thought."

Maddie smirked in agreement. Still, she continued with a slight chuckle, "It's okay, Jack. You can hear about it now! In any case, as we were chatting, I notice the pictures on the nearby mantle in her living room. They looked like they could be of her family, and when I commented about them, she eagerly showed them to us. She seemed to be quite proud about her husband. And it was obvious from the pictures that they only had one child, which was a boy. But there was something odd about her son."

"Don't you mean something _oddbody_ about her son, sugardoodle?" Jack said with obvious tease.

Danny rolled his eyes this time.

"Ha-ha, Jack," she deadpanned. "But seriously, she kept gushing about her husband and then about her son when she was finished talking about her husband. But then, she seemed to get all odd about her son."

"What do you mean, Mom?" Danny asked, now even more curious about these ghosts.

The woman paused once again about the memory. She had seen a picture of what she thought was a sweet-looking, freckled-face, nine-year-old boy—even if he obviously looked like a ghost! And to her, the boy ghost looked a lot like his mother—and Maddie ended up liking his mother—so she still didn't understand why the ghost mother would say all of those things about her son. Nevertheless, Maddie answered her own son.

"It all started when she handed me the picture of her son after raving about him. I told her that I thought her son looks so angelic. And to my surprise, his mother both agreed and disagreed with me!"

"Huh?" Danny blurted out.

"Well," his mother began, "Like I said, it all started when I commented that I thought her son looked so angelic and…" And she started relating her conversation with Mrs. Oddbody about her son…

" _Oh, what a sweet-looking boy you have there, Mrs. Oddbody," Maddie commented as she studied the face in the picture frame. "He looks like an angel!"_

" _Yeah, he can be an angel alright when his halo is hiding his horns!" the ghost mother casually replied._

 _Maddie frowned with confusion. Did she hear that right? She asked, "Ah, I'm sorry, Mrs. Oddbody. I don't think I heard you correctly."_

 _But the ghost abruptly changed the subject. "You know, Mrs. Fenton, we've been talking for a while, so you can call me Lesley."_

" _Thank you, Lesley, and you can call me Maddie, then," the human female replied before pointing over to her husband while ignoring the fact that he was still snacking and not really listening, and adding, "And that's my husband, Jack."_

" _Please to meet you both again, Maddie," the ghost replied with a grin._

 _The human female smiled but continued their conversation, "I don't mean to be rude, but did you just say your son has horns?"_

 _The ghost chuckled before saying, "Well, not really. You see, Lesley…"_

" _Lesley?" Maddie interjected. And blushing slightly, she continued, "I apologize again. But didn't you just say that_ _ **your**_ _name is Lesley?"_

 _Mrs. Oddbody laughed as she replied, "Yes, it is! But my son's name is also Lesley! But he's 'Lesley Junior' because my husband's name is also Lesley! But I call my hubby 'Les' and he calls me 'Lily' and we usually call Junior 'Junior' just so we don't get confused, like obviously you are now! Isn't that funny?"_

 _The ghost then started giggling at her own joke._

 _Maddie frowned to herself about the ghost's strange behavior as she thought, "Hmm...Lesley, Lesley and Lesley, Junior?…Your name isn't 'Oddbody' for just any reason!" But her thoughts were interrupted by the other mother._

 _The ghost had just stopped laughing and started to speak once more, "Junior's just a little devil when he wants to be. Oh, he can be sweet too, when he's around me, that is."_

 _Maddie had just picked up one of the priceless teaspoons to stir her tea when she offered, "I'm sure he's just a little rambunctious, just like other boys his age. In fact, my own son…" But the woman paused and unconsciously wrapped her hand around that same spoon when it was obvious by what was happening that the ghost wasn't listening..._

 _Suddenly, one of Lesley's eyes started to twitch—a lot—just before she continued, sounding a bit more bothered on this round, "But he thinks I don't know what he does when he's not around me. And it has nothing to do with his wonderful imagination!"_

 _Maddie's face scrunched up again as this conversation was getting weirder and weirder by the second. In fact, she was getting a bit nervous because the female ghost's skin tone darkened and the pupils of her eyes were beginning to change in color from ghostly green to glowing red as her talk about her son became more agitated…_

" _You know, I'm really proud of how clever Junior is, but I don't want him to use his guiles to snitch things from his father's basement! I've caught him a few times, but not enough to teach him a lesson!"_

 _All of the sudden, Lesley Oddbody's eyes began to twirl in a mixture of red and white, like a pinwheel spinning in a breeze; and her green hair began to stand on end before separating into several long clumps of hair that began to undulate wildly._

 _Maddie slowly stood up from the couch in fear as the ghost's hair now seemed just like the snakes that made up the hair of Medusa!_

 _Even Jack had noticed the change by now and he, too, stopped eating and slowly came to a stand._

 _But before the human couple could think of what to make of all of this, the ghost's mouth wrenched open. Large craggily fangs and a snake-like tongue jutted forward and it seemed as if they were spitting out her words this time. "I've also heard some amazing stories about Junior that makes me swell with pride! He can take just about any of the junk he has taken from his father's basement and weave it into his fantasy world! And he knows that I don't approve of it when he hurts other ghosts when he's doing that! Whenever I find out, I whale the tar out of him—and take his pet away!"_

 _Maddie and Jack slowly reached in each of their pockets toward their weapons at this strange—and radical—turn of events. Still, it didn't seem as if the ghost was threatening them because she wasn't even looking at them as she ranted on._

 _But then, suddenly, Lesley's eyes stopped twirling and her green hair stopped undulating before it softly fell to her shoulders as it had been before the conversation even began. The pupils of her eyes turned from red to green again and a perfect pearly smile returned to her petite mouth._

 _She then looked at the human couple in confusion. Weren't they just sitting down just a second ago? She then realized what happened and sheepishly smiled as she apologized, "Uh, I'm sorry if I upset you. I do get carried away whenever Junior misbehaves. But I really do love him and only discipline him like a good mother should. I really want him to grow up to be a very wonderful ghost. And, oh, please do sit down."_

 _Maddie and Jack nodded gingerly as they pulled their hands away from their weapons and slowly sat down again. But underneath, they were eager to go!_

 _The ghost mother sighed and added, "If only I could curtail his shenanigans right when they're happening! Anytime I do catch him in the act, my, well, other self—which is really harmless— scares him for months afterward and he behaves all that time—well, that and a good spanking and taking his pet away does the trick!"_

 _She suddenly giggled and the human couple forced a smile on their faces so that she wouldn't get in that 'scare mode' again. At this point, they were going to agree to everything so they could get the heck out of there!_

 _The silence that fell upon the threesome unnerved the human couple._

 _But then, Lesley sighed again and said, "Would you like some more tea and cookies?"_

" _Uh, no thank you…" Maddie began, privately thankful that her husband didn't want any more food. "And, even though we've had a lovely time, we really must go."_

" _Oh, so soon? You just got here; and I've so enjoyed your company," Lily mildly protested._

" _Yes, heh-heh, time does fly when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Jack awkwardly uttered, before looking knowingly at his wife._

 _Maddie didn't need any more coaxing as she came to stand._

 _Jack readily got up as well before he slipped his hand into his wife's hand and started to guide them toward the door._

" _Yes, it does; but still, it's such a shame. But I understand," the ghost mother replied just as she got up and started to follow them._

 _But just as Jack put his hand on the door knob and began turning it, he froze at the ghost's next words._

" _But before you leave, could you do me a favor?"_

 _The human couple gingerly turned around just as Maddie said as calmly as she could, "Of course."_

" _If you ever see Junior misbehaving, could you let me know?"_

" _Absolutely!" Maddie readily agreed, since she knew that the odds of that happening was absolutely zilch!_

 _The ghost smiled and replied, "Oh, thank you. And feel free to come visit me anytime!"…_

"And, of course you know that we have made doubly sure to avoid the Oddbodies ever since!" Maddie told her son at the conclusion of her story. But then remembering how she had found something in her pocket that day that didn't belong to her, she said only to herself, _"If only I could because I somehow ended up with one of her priceless heirloom teaspoons by accident…I was so upset about what was happening at the time that I must have slipped it into my pocket by mistake when I was reaching for my Fenton Ray Wraith Gun!"_

"Yeah, they really should be called the Weirdo-bodies!" Jack snorted.

Danny snickered before he replied, "Wow, Mom. Dad! Talk about: when mom's not happy, it's scary!"

His parents faces broke out into grin as he continued, "And, If you don't want to ever see them again, then you know that I don't! Still, even though Lesley, er, I mean, Mrs. Oddboddy was scary, I guess she was harmless enough since she didn't attack you. There aren't too many of those kinds of ghosts, you know."

"Well, now that I think about it, maybe I should just let this project stay as it is," Maddie began.

"Are you changing your mind about it, then, sweetcakes? Jack moaned with a frown. "But it's too late to get you anything else for Mother's Day, then!"

Maddie smiled crookedly and said, "You know that I don't really go for those non-ghost kind of things, honey. Making me the 'Spook Snoop" and just taking all of us out to eat is enough."

The man's face broke out into a smile as he gushed, "You are the best, sugardoodle!"

But Danny wasn't listening; instead, he was lost in his own thoughts. _"Darn, then she won't like the perfume I was going to buy today…Hey, wait a minute! I can get her some ghost-perfume!_ _That will be easy to get in the Ghost Zone. I know just the place to get it, too!"_

He looked at his parents and cringed now that they were all of the sudden kissing! He cleared his throat and said, "Uh, can I go now? I, uh, got some stuff to do."

"Oh, sure, hon," his mother replied just after she parted from her husband.

Danny quickly turned and practically ran out of the room as he called back to them, "Okay, see ya!"

Just as he exited the area, the teen morphed into his alter ego, Danny Phantom, produced out his wulf claws, dug them into the atmosphere, and jumped right into the jagged portal his claws had made.

The place he was going to wasn't so far from the Fenton portal; and so, he was certain this would be a quick trip. And yet, some hours later, he realized how wrong he was…

Danny frowned in discouragement as he flew throughout the Ghost Zone, searching for the ghost perfume. He had been looking for hours since he left his parents, er, bonding. Still, of all days, the ghost peddler who was usually in this area wasn't here! He glanced at his watch and sighed. It was already _that_ late? He yawned this time. Though he didn't like it, he would have to come back tomorrow, even if it was Mother's Day. If he got up as early as possible, he could still get the perfume before his mother even got up!

Still, that meant he would have to make himself get up way earlier than he ever wanted to get up on the weekends.

He slightly groaned, even though, underneath, he was glad to do that for his mom—and because he deserved the inconvenience for procrastinating like he always did when it came to buying presents for anyone.

But not matter what, he was determined to get his mother's gift, even if it meant returning back here tomorrow…

However, little did Danny know as he returned home and got ready for bed, that he wasn't the only one in a dilemma.

At that same moment, Mrs. Oddbody had just discovered that one of her priceless heirloom teaspoons was missing and she was wailing about it to her family…

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 **1\. I completely made up this new Fenton Gizmo. But it sure sounded like the 'Spook Snoop' should be part of the Fentons' arsenal!**

 **A/N: Hope you liked this first installment. Look for Chapter 2 tomorrow! Don't forget to let your thoughts fall right into that little box below. See y'all soon! truephan**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Makes this holiday even more special! As promised, here is the second shot of this story. Enjoy!**

Mother's Day Mayhem

Chapter Two—Mother of Mine

Mother's Day morning broke out in the sweet melody of the several early birds' wishing all mothers to have a wonderful day.

Danny slowly opened one eye when one particular bird was merrily greeting him right outside his window. He groaned when his blurry vision barely recognized the earliest ray of dawn and his brain decided that it was not enough light to stir. But then, just as he had turned over in bed, another thought leaked out of his groggy mind, and he jolted himself awake.

"Mom's present!" he gasped as any wisp of sleepiness floated away.

How could he have slept in?! He had told himself that he had to return to the Ghost Zone at first light today for his mother's present!

The teen quickly got out of bed, rushed to finish his morning routine, and carefully and quietly made his way downstairs and to the kitchen. He then fixed a very quick breakfast, and wrote a short note to let his family know that he was out doing a quick errand and would be back in plenty of time to celebrate Mother's Day. He didn't waste any more time in going ghost, whipping out his wulf claws and then diving into the splintered hole between him and the Ghost Zone….

But after about an hour of searching, when the young ghost hybrid realized that this was taking a lot longer than he thought, he became worried about ruining his mother's special day. But then he brightened a bit. He had forgotten that there was a small cluster of ghost shops in this area!

He smirked at his next thought, _"They don't compare to our malls, though!"_

He wasted no more time and poured on more speed, slowing only when he reached the first shop.

However, as he checked shop-after-shop, Danny realized that most of them were closed—or those that were opened didn't carry any perfumes.

The Ghost Boy stopped and hovered at the last closed store when he suddenly smacked himself on his forehead and muttered, "Duh! Of course, the stores would be closed! They would want to visit _their_ mothers today!"

Nevertheless, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He would have to go home and just wish his mother a good Mother's Day without any ghost present! Returning to flight, he slowly headed to his home.

But he hadn't gotten even a quarter of the way there when his face broke into a grin when he spied—the ghost peddler and his floating wagon!

Now satisfied with his quick purchase, Danny shoved the bottle of ghost perfume into one of his pockets, took flight again, and headed back to his home with a lighter heart—and less alert mind...

The teen was so relieved—and now more tired from his short night's sleep—that he wasn't aware that his mind began to drift even as he was in autopilot in his path home. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he actually didn't notice that his ghost sense was activated. Instead, he maintained his current speed and train of thought as he moved forward. And just when he was just well over half-way to home, Danny's ghost sense alerted him a second time a bit too late and before he knew it, he was reeling from a large and powerful electrical bolt of green ectoplasmic energy that had hit him from behind. Stunned by the unexpected attack and not comprehending the cackling laughter that erupted shortly after that, he tumbled out of control for several yards before he slid to an unintentional and dazed stop…

In the meantime…

Maddie Fenton unconsciously sniffed the air while still asleep in her bed. Finally, the intoxicating smell was too much and she slowly opened her eyes before smiling. She turned to her side and saw that her husband was also stirring.

She tenderly smiled at her next thought. That meant that either Jazz or Danny was in the kitchen; and she just knew they were preparing her favorite breakfast!

She slowly got up, put on her bathrobe, and headed downstairs.

When she entered, music sounded in her ears.

"Happy Mother's Day!" Jazz emoted just before she put the frying pan to the side and ran over to give her a big hug.

"Thanks, sweetie," Maddie replied after parting. "How sweet that you've made breakfast for me!"

Jazz smirked and replied, "Well, how can I complain when you're the best mom ever! Besides, it's only once a year that I get to beat you to fix breakfast!"

The mother chuckled a little before looking at the perfectly decorated dining table, flowers included!

Jazz motioned for the woman to sit down just as Maddie gushed, "Wow, honey, you really went all out this year!"

"It's the least I can do. Well, not really," her daughter replied, as she began to serve her mother.

"What do you mean, Jazz?" as she took a sip of orange juice.

"Right after you're done, I want to get you all dolled up for tonight! First, we start out with a manicure, and then a pedicure, and then a…"

Knowing that Jazz always went a bit overboard with these kinds of things, Maddie gently interrupted her, "Oh, sweetie, you don't have to do all of that because you know I want to go to our favorite bar-be-que place tonight; and so, don't you think being all 'dolled up' would be a bit much?"

Jazz tried to hide her disappointment but her mother noticed and quickly added, "But, you know, a manicure sounds like fun; and I can have the best dressed fingers drenched in bar-be-que sauce!"

Jazz immediately grinned and finally sat down to eat breakfast with her mother.

Their conversation was definitely girl-talk but after a while, they finished their meal and Maddie finally asked, "So, you did this all by yourself, Jazz? The bar-be-que place won't top this in the least!"

"Uh-huh," the girl replied with a pleased smile as she started to clean up. She then added, "Oh, by the way, Danny left a note saying he had a quick errand to run and he would be back soon."

Maddie nodded in acknowledgement. She had a suspicion that her son would be out looking for a gift at the last minute—as always—but she wasn't going to complain. In fact, she didn't give it another thought because her daughter was already getting things set up for her manicure!

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile, _not too long_ after Danny had first entered the Ghost Zone…

"Man, that was the best one yet!" nine-year-old Youngblood said with a grin to his skeleton pet, which was now in the form of a Capuchin monkey.

The ghost boy had just turned off the television after they had been watching a marathon of movies about the same character.

"I have to admit that you finally picked something exciting to watch," the skeleton monkey said drolly.

Too excited to be insulted, the ghost youngster crowed, "I'll say; and that gives me an idea!"

Just then, Youngblood's clothing changed. He was now wearing a rumbled brown Fedora hat, a tan shirt that buttoned in the front, khaki safari-like pants with a rugged leather belt, scruffy black leather jacket, and weathered dark brown hiking boots. He even had a sturdy tan satchel hanging from his right shoulder.

"There!" he at first said with pride before suddenly pouting and then groaning.

"Now what?" the monkey asked with a slight whine.

"I can't be Indiana Jones without a whip!" Youngblood replied with a louder whine.

But then, the boy's face lit up at his next thought. "Wait! I know where there's one! So, no time to waste, Cheetah!"

"Cheetah?" the skeleton monkey exclaimed, mortified. "That's not the name of the monkey in the movie! Uh, in fact, it didn't even have a name."

"Aww, knock it off!" Youngblood ordered haughtily. "It's the only monkey name I know!"

'Cheetah' frowned; but before he could comment, Youngblood quickly changed moods and excitedly ordered, "Let's go! I want to go hunt for some rare treasure just like Indy!"

"But don't you have something more important to do today?" the monkey reminded him, his tone of voice definitely hinting at just that.

The Indy-wannbe scrunched up his face and rolled his eyes upward in thought for only a split second before blurting out, "Naw! You know I don't like to think about all of that yucky stuff! So, quit trying to ruin my fun! Time to go get my whip and then go! And since I know where that whip is, I won't be gone that long and then we can get going!"

The ghost boy then flew out of the room without any other word.

The skeleton monkey rolled his eye sockets and skirted after the boy.

Just as Youngblood had promised, he had found and retrieved that special whip in hardly any time; and the pair of mischievous adventurers were on their way...

Meanwhile, _even earlier_ before Youngblood and his sidekick had finished their movie marathon…

A green-skinned, white-haired ghost was very excited as he flew in the Ghost Zone, headed toward his lair. He quickly adjusted his small rectangular-shape frame of his sunglasses and cupped his treasure in his large green laboratory gloves and brought it to his eye height to get a better look at it.

"Ha-ha!" Technus cackled with glee as he inspected the small device. He had always admired its craftmanship, and now it was his! And as he continued to exam the old, but working, little machine, he unconsciously slowed down in flight. He suddenly snorted, "Good ol' Friedrich! He's never let me down, alive or after-alive! Now there was a real genius—though not as good as me, of course—but I'll never tell him that! Hah-hah. Still, this little treasure is going to help me build an even more perfect robot than the perfect one I've already have! Thanks, Friedrich!" **[1]**

He was so enthralled as he played with the little buttons on the gizmo that he hadn't realized just how much he had slowed down as he approached a small floating green shelf with a large black boulder on it.

"Such a rare relic and treasure! I can't wait to use it!" the shaggy, mullet-toting ghost gushed as he continued to muse out loud to himself, totally unaware that two pairs of eyes and ears were hidden close by and had just detected and zeroed into him...

"Did you hear that, Cheetah?" Youngblood excitedly asked from behind the large black boulder as the techno-ghost had passed the two. "Technus must have stolen that treasure from some underground cavern of a powerful pharaoh! But it won't be long when it's ours!"

"I don't think there's ever been a pharaoh named 'Friedrich'," the skeleton Capuchin monkey deadpanned while flicking his tail.

"Of course, there was!" the youngster protested, before he realized that Technus was quickly getting out of eyeshot. He hurriedly added, "C'mon, before he escapes—but we gotta do it just like Indy would do it!"

"Whatever that means," his companion said under his monkey breath before he scratched behind his ear and flew after the Indy-wannabe.

Soon, the twosome caught up with Technus enough to keep hidden and keep track of him until the techno-ghost arrived at his lair.

Youngblood's face lit up as he watched his target go into a ghostly grey warehouse floating on top of a small ghostly purple island. Getting into that lair would be a piece of cake!

The nine-year-old ghost soared under one of the outside windows while the Capuchin monkey slinked to the top. As if they were in synch, Youngblood slowly pulled himself upward, while the monkey oozed his head downward until both of them were just peeking into the window.

Each of the adventurers' eyes widened slightly in excitement and anticipation when Technus put the small gizmo down and left the area.

Now was their chance!

Pointing to an area just under the eaves, Youngblood commanded, "Quick, Cheetah, get up to that hole up there and open the window!"

With a throaty rumble response that he understood, the skeleton monkey scooted up an outside pipe and launched into the hole from it. He scampered down to the edge of the window and deftly yanked it open.

The freckled-face ghost boy wasted no time and flew over to the coveted treasure. Ignoring his skeleton sidekick which had just perched onto his shoulder, Youngblood pulled out a small full pouch from out of his tan satchel; and then, with his tongue wedged to the side of his mouth, he looked at Technus's prized machine from all sides.

He frowned a bit when his Fedora hat fell a bit into his eyes from all the weird head movement he had been doing, but he quickly flipped it back out of his face. He then lifted the pouch so that it was parallel to the treasure before he wiggled all of the fingers of his free hand, grasped it and then swapped the full pouch he had brought for Technus' relic in one quick swoop.

With a triumphant grin stretching out his face, the green-eyed ghost youngster sloppily shoved his prize into his satchel and slowly turned around to make as quick of an exit as he could.

But the sticky-fingered pair hadn't gone even a foot when they gulped and twisted around as one entity at the loud noise just behind them! Little had they known that Technus had placed his little rare machine in an area scanned by ultraviolet light sensors.

Youngblood shook in his Indiana boots when an angry large robot made of all sorts of mechanical odds and ends came storming in from what seemed out of nowhere! It didn't matter that the ghost youngster could clearly see that this was just a guard robot and not Technus himself within the robot!

Nevertheless, the young—and scared—adventurer immediately twisted back toward the window and bolted away at high speed, his skeletal monkey holding onto the boy's neck for dear after-life and chattering in agitated monkey-speech.

Closer and closer the automated robot came clanking in fury as it charged after the renegade thieves!

Even when the Indy-wannabe could feel the heat radiating off of the infuriated robot on his and his monkey's tails, the ghost boy never looked back as he made a beeline to the window. And just when it seemed as if the raging robot was about to get to its prey, Youngblood and the monkey shot through the window just as the robot splattered against it.

"Yippee!" Youngblood crowed, making sure he didn't slow down a bit in his flight as he headed home. "That's just like Indy escaping the ancient booby-trapped temple in Peru!"

He was so swollen with triumph and glee that he couldn't help but burst out singing the theme of _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ in nonsensical, yet joyous, syllables, " La-dee DEE-dah, La-dee DAH! La-dee DEE-dah, la-dee DAH, DAH, DAH! "

"I'd hate to interrupt your concerto, Indiana," the skeletal Capuchin monkey dryly commented just before he twisted back to look behind the pair. "But, it looks like someone thinks you sing off-key!"

"What?" Youngblood gasped as he chanced a glance behind him.

The Indy-Wannabe could plainly see that Technus was flying in his direction and must have finally been alerted of the theft of his priceless machine. But the ghost hadn't seen him take it, had he? And his fedora hat kept his face hidden anyways. But right now, it didn't matter, because it looked as if Technus was after him; and the techno-ghost was angrily waving a long, thin blue rod topped with a round electrical ball with green energy encased between the stiff wires jutting out of it at him!

Youngblood swallowed the lump in his throat and concentrated on speeding up. Maybe he could reach home before he got caught. After all, he wasn't too far from his lair.

But then, his wrinkled frown morphed into a wicked grin as he spied none other than Danny Phantom using the same pathway as he just ahead! He didn't care to know why the ghost hybrid was in the Ghost Zone going at such a slow pace. All he cared was that this was his chance to keep his treasure, and get back at the smarmy teen for the last time they had met!

"Cheetah! Keep your eye out on Technus and let me know if he fires that wicked-looking thing in his hand!" the youngster commanded.

In all the while, Youngblood kept his flightpath steady until he heard the monkey cry, "Now!"

The kid ghost immediately dove down and away from the path of Technus' green electrical energy just as the beam overshot him but made contact with the back of Danny Phantom instead!

Technus' square-framed sunglasses jumped off the bridge of his nose momentarily in surprise when he realized whom he had hit. But then, he cackled loudly in glee before uttering "Wow! And what luck! If it isn't the annoying Ghost Child!"

But before the techno-ghost could follow up on his attack, Youngblood and his monkey flew up to him and hurriedly lied, "I'm so glad to see you, Technus! I was on my way home when I saw Phantom flying out of your lair holding onto something!"

After seeing the bulge in one of the pockets of the still dazed Ghost Teen's hazmat suit, Youngblood quickly added, "See? He still has it in his pocket! And I was trying to get him to stop when, thank goodness, you came along! After all, how can a little kid like me even think of taking on such a powerful ghost like him?!"

The youngster then smirked wickedly before he suggested, "But if we work _together_ , we stand a good chance in teaching him a painful lesson!"

"Well, they do say that a bird on your wrist is better than two getting in the way!" Technus chuckled.

"You mean, 'a bird in hand is better than two in the bush', don't you?" the skeleton ghost monkey groaned with a roll of his eye sockets.

"You get your whipper-snappers your way and I'll get mine my way!" the mullet-haired ghost growled back just before he turned and took flight toward the momentarily helpless Ghost Boy, with Youngblood and Cheetah hot on his spectral tail…

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Maddie admired the exquisite manicure that Jazz had given her. But then, she frowned only to herself. It really _would_ be a shame to get bar-be-que sauce on them after all. But that thought only led to another wild one…It was also a shame that she still had that teaspoon she accidentally took from Mrs. Oddbody! The ghost woman had talked so excitedly about her priceless tea set. Maddie could only imagine how frantic the ghost must be if she had discovered one of the pieces was gone.

The woman's face puckered more with guilt than reluctance to return to that scary ghost. That clinched it for her. As one mother to another, she owed the ghost to help keep heirlooms whole—especially on Mother's Day! She really didn't need to take that long since that ghost's lair wasn't that far from the Fenton portal. Besides, she could avoid any 'complications' by just putting the teaspoon into an envelope and slipping it discreetly under the front door without any chance of upsetting that odd Oddbody. With a smile now on her face, Maddie ran upstairs and hurried to change.

When she got into the bedroom, however, her husband was up and dressed and holding… a bouquet of her favorite flowers!

"Uh, sorry, sugardoodle," the man sheepishly said. "I had been hoping to sneak these down before you got up; and well, heh-heh, you got up! But happy Mother's Day anyways, darling! And thank you for giving me the two very best kids in the world!"

He awkwardly shot the bouquet toward his wife, practically hitting her in the face with them.

But Maddie hadn't so much as flinched at his gesture because she was so touched by it.

"Awww, and thank you, too, sweetheart, for giving me the two very best kids in the world!" she began as she gave him a quick peck before she smelled the flowers, "And, thank you for trying to be better at remembering these kinds of things."

"Well, I did use up the last of the twine for this one!" he jested as he lifted one of his hands, whose fingers were covered in multiple strings tied around them.

His wife chuckled and kissed him once again before she walked determinedly toward the closet.

Jack, meanwhile, had been ignoring his stomach for too long and trotted straight to the kitchen for breakfast.

Maddie was done in no time. She checked and patted one of the pockets of her teal-colored hazmat suit for the envelope containing the teaspoon before heading downstairs.

When the woman saw her husband still eating in the kitchen and her daughter still cleaning up, she nonchalantly told them that she felt she couldn't truly have a happy Mother's Day if another mother was upset. Once she assured them of her simple plan to return the teaspoon—and the fact that Mrs. Oddbody's lair was not too from the Fenton Portal, anyways—they were satisfied to let her go on this short trip into the Ghost Zone alone. Besides, they always let her have her way on Mother's Day—but, more importantly, they knew that she could hold her own when it came to ghost-fighting!

And just as Maddie hopped into the Specter Speeder, turned it on and activated the portal in very quick order, Jack swallowed the last bite of his food with a large gulp at his sudden anguished thought!

"Oh, no!" he blurted out, coughing a bit on the awkward swallow while still jumping up from his chair and rushing to the lab.

Jazz squeaked in a startle at her father's abrupt outburst about nothing obvious. Still, she darted right after him.

But they were too late because the back of the Specter Speeder was already being swallowed up by the ghost portal by the time Jack had yelled out in dismay at his long-gone wife, "Maddie, wait! I had to clean the speeder out in order to get ready to clean the hazardous fuel residue coils since it has over two-hundred thousand miles on it! And to get to the coils I had to unplug the radio! It wasn't ready to fly yet!"

He furrowed his brow even more in chagrin just as he muttered, "And the jetpack that I forgot to take out is very low in fuel!"

"It's just a quick trip, Dad," Jazz said, trying to sound encouraging. Still, she swallowed thickly at seeing all of the ghost weapons that were supposed to be _in_ the speeder neatly stacked on a nearby table. "And I'm sure Mom made sure to bring some weapons, anyways, so there's nothing to worry about," she continued before adding her own private thought, _"I hope!"_

Meanwhile, Maddie hadn't noticed anything amiss in her flying machine as she punched in the coordinates for the Oddbody home. She pressed her foot down on the accelerator, ignoring the slight hesitation in speed as she did.

She noticed that the Ghost Zone was very calm right now. She smirked. It probably was because of Mother's Day—after all, Danny did tell his family that the ghosts celebrated holidays, too. Still, she did want to spend most of _this_ holiday with her family and so, she concentrated on finishing with her errand.

However, she had only gotten a little more than half-way to her destination when the speeder began to buck unnaturally. The woman frowned as she glanced at all the warning lights that were now flashing at her as if it were Independence Day instead of Mother's Day!

Maddie knew that this trip was a bust for now and she had to turn around and get home. But when she guided the y-shaped steering bar to a hard left and pressed the accelerator again, the speeder started to slow down on its own!

"No problem," the woman assuredly said to herself when she saw that the radar was still working. "I'll just let Jack know where I am and he can come get me with the Ops Center jet!"

But when she grabbed the microphone tethered to a coiled line and pulled it up to her mouth, she gasped when the _entire unit_ came with it!

Trying to remain calm and logical as her predicament deepened, Danny's mother hurriedly scanned the horizon for a place to land—and hide!

There! The Specter Speeder was approaching—very slowly, of course— a floating green shelf with a green boulder large enough to shield the flying machine.

Maddie unconsciously rocked in her seat as the speeder chugged forward, as if that movement would somehow egg the speeder more quickly to the ghost shelf.

She breathed a sigh in relief as she calculated that the flying machine would be able to glide to just behind the boulder as the energy finally petered out. However, just as the nose of the speeder was drifting further behind the boulder, she gasped when she spied a commotion in the near distance that was quickly hidden in view by the boulder before she could get a good look at it.

She immediately secured the speeder and opened its back compartment, only to groan in chagrin. There were no weapons in here like there usually was!

But then, she mentally slapped herself on her forehead. Amid the excitement of today, she had forgotten that Jack had been in the process of doing major maintenance on the speeder!

"Still, no need to panic," she told herself as she smiled and patted the side of her hazmat pants leg where she kept her most treasured weapon. She still had her trusty Maddie Mauler **[2]** , that ecto-stick that glowed like the dual light saber used by Darth Maul in one of those _Star Wars_ movies—only that her mauler was charged with glowing green anti-ectoplasmic energy!

"And I sure hope that Jack had forgotten to get everything out of the speeder this time!" she uttered as she searched more deeply into the compartment.

Her face lit up at her discovery. One of the jetpacks was still in there! She pulled it out and put it quickly on, only for her face to fall. It, too, had hardly any fuel left in it!

But she had no more time to think about it because that commotion she had first spied was sounding louder—and closer!

She bit her lower lip even as she flipped the top of her hazmat suit over her head and secured its goggles to shield her eyes. She hoped she had enough fuel in the jetpack to get out of this area before that sound got too much closer! And she had to make sure she could make a break for it in order to get out of this area!

The human female got out of the disabled speeder as quickly as she could and headed to the boulder. She didn't hesitate to practically hug it at its edge before she slowly lifted her head for a peek of what was happening behind it.

Her eyes widen and she gasped! Four ghosts were fighting—and one of them was her _son_!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Eager to attack, Technus, Youngblood and the skeletal monkey made a beeline to the momentarily dazed Ghost Boy.

But then, Danny's ghost sense partially jolted him out of his funk and he gasped when he saw a green ectoplasmic ray headed straight to him! He bolted upward, but yelled in pain shortly afterward when a part of the beam had clipped his spectral tail and had sent a strong electrical current charging upward before it encased and then shocked his entire body.

Despite the pain and now being momentarily paralyzed as he had been with Technus's first attack, Danny knew he couldn't just give them another opening.

" _Time to move, Fenton,"_ he silently commanded himself. He concentrated and every muscle in his body forced him to take immediate flight again. And though he was successful, his flight was slightly off-balanced. Danny nevertheless pulled himself into a hard-left arc toward the area where that ray had come from.

And just before he had righted his flight path to be in line with the incoming ghosts, the ghost hybrid fully extended and brought his arms forward before dark green ectoplasmic energy poured out from his eyes and both fisted hands in a counter-attack.

Three sets of ghostly voices gasped as three beams of energy plowed right into them and radically shoved them back and away from each other.

Youngblood and his monkey were pushed back much further than Technus and were momentarily stunned.

Technus, however, immediately shook his dizziness away, flew closer while defiantly lifting his blue electrical staff and yelled, "Give me back what you took from me, young hoodlum, and we shall see if you still deserve a good thrashing—which you probably do just for the heck of it!"

Keeping his guard up and energy charged as he hovered in place, Danny frowned in both irritation and bewilderment as he yelled back, "Just what the heck are you talking about, Technus? _You_ …" He quickly pointed over to Youngblood and his sidekick in the distance and added, "…and apparently, _them_ , started all of this!"

"Oh, don't play like a lamb," the techno-ghost began.

Danny's face scrunched up in more confusion before he begged the question, "Play like a lamb?"

Tehnus immediately huffed, "I mean, don't be as innocent as a play, er…"

Now Danny knew what the ghost meant and he dryly corrected him, "Don't you mean 'don't play innocent?' or maybe, uhm, 'don't pretend to be as innocent as a lamb'? "

"That's it, child! Wow, you do know your idioms! And you just admitted you're guilty!" Technus replied with an evil grin just as another powerful beam shot out of his staff.

Danny groaned. Mr. Lancer's lessons would forever haunt him! Still, he threw that thought away as he reflexively countered Technus's move with a beam of his own.

The two ectoplasmic forces slammed into each other, but Danny's ray quickly smothered his foe's.

Danny smirked; but it was short-lived when he felt something thick and long wrap around his waist before it inflicted _two_ jolts of pain right into him. He couldn't understand why he suddenly felt a huge drain in his energy from the blow—nor had he seen that Youngblood had recovered and had counterattacked with his two-tail whip.

"Yeoww!" Danny yelled; but a split second later, he was screaming even more after Technus had quickly followed up with another round of aggressive energy that had put the Ghost Boy in a crossfire.

Danny tried to slow down his breathing and ignore his pain, while trying even harder to ignore Technus's annoying cackling and Youngblood's even more irritating laughter—especially when they were intermixed with monkey-giggles.

But the Ghost Teen knew right away to react when a moment later, his antagonists had suddenly clammed up. He suddenly shot upward and had to stifle his chuckle when he had guessed right.

The ghosts—still thinking they had Danny helpless in a crossfire—had inadvertently attacked _each other_ when Danny had unexpectantly bolted away from them.

This time, however, Danny didn't give them a chance to rebound as he did a backflip and headed downward. Suddenly his glowing green eyes turned a solid blue before two beams of slushy ice energy shot forward.

Phantom's attack hit all of his enemies squarely, freezing them solid while at the same time thrusting them away.

While Youngblood had lost his grip on his whip and his monkey had lost his grip on _him_ when they were encased with Danny's ice power and forcibly sent in rapid retreat, the frozen Technus was thrown into the path with a large boulder on a nearby floating green shelf…

Meanwhile, Maddie's muscles tensed as she watched the fight. At the moment, she knew she couldn't just fly out there and attack because her jet booster was so dangerously low on fuel. And if her jetpack lost complete power in the foray, then that would just make her a sitting duck—something that her son couldn't afford to worry about with all those ghosts around. Nevertheless, her emotions swelled and ebbed along with her sense of helplessness as time passed. She winced and wanted to cry whenever her son got in a crossfire from the ghosts, only to breath in relief and swell with a hint of pride whenever he rebounded and got the upper hand. After all, she had never really witnessed his fighting ghosts firsthand. And now that she was, she wished for that 'never' part again. But then, she suddenly understood why her son was so careful not to even talk about his fights in detail. And now that she understood, she just as suddenly felt her motherly instincts kick in at how unfair this all was. She had to do something! She gritted her teeth in frustration. But _what_?

Fortunately for her, she _heard_ an immediate answer! She cautiously peered around the rock once more, quickly slipped off the one-man booster rocket, and gritted her teeth in determination.

It turned out that what Maddie had just heard was what had happened to Technus. The techno-ghost's ice-tomb had shattered with his hard introduction to the unyielding rock; and with a groan, he had slid down the face of it until he had plopped to the ground. But he was only momentarily stunned because, ironically, the ice had cushioned the impact. He staggered to a stand and glared at the Ghost Child in the distance who was headed to Youngblood. He aimed his staff at the flying hybrid and immediately fired. He chuckled when Danny reeled from the ectoplasmic attack and tumbled out of control once more.

Technus was about to soar after the Ghost Boy when he suddenly heard what sounded like a karate master about to pounce on _her_ prey!

He twisted around, only for his face to meet the bottom of Maddie Fenton's boot. The ghost jerked backward, his sunglasses were partially thrown off of his face, and his back slammed into the boulder again at the blow. Before he knew it, he was now face-to-face with the angry glare of Danny's mother and her furiously glowing Maddie Mauler! **[2]**

"What are you doing here, human? I have no pork with you!" Technus objected as he pulled as far back from Maddie's weapon as the rock behind him would allow.

"Never mind about why I'm here or what food has to do with this, ghost!" she seriously said, all the while as she took a mental note of the ghost's white hair pulled back into an annoying shaggy mullet, his black body-length jumpsuit covered by a floor-length gray cape, funky sunglasses, and large green laboratory gloves. "I'm just giving you one chance to…uh…to go visit your mother right now and just leave any other ghost you have a beef with alone just for today!"

"Beef! That's what I meant! Like I said, human, I have no beef with you!" Technus insisted almost gleefully, but recoiled when Maddie pressed closer with her glowing weapon.

One of Maddie's eyebrows shot up in surprised as she bantered back, "Well, you better get out of here in two shakes of lamb's tail then, ghost!"

"Lamb! I already used that idiom!" Technus said ebulliently. In the meantime, nevertheless, he was craftily and sinisterly starting to aim his electrical staff at the woman.

Maddie frowned in confusion at his remark, but her eagle eyes still noticed what the ghost was intending to do. Now infuriated with the ghost, her mauler countered his move with a one-two punch—punching the staff out of his hand first and then following that with a hard blow to the tip of his chin, that is.

Dazed, Technus fell against the boulder and looked as if he were momentarily frozen to it.

Maddie then twirled her weapon as if it were a majorette's baton; and at the end of its momentum, her weapon sliced-and-diced Technus' staff.

She then turned to the ghost and chided him. "Your mother would be ashamed of you for wanting to hurt a lady!"

Technus barely comprehended what she said, but for some reason he thought, " _She would be_ _ **more**_ _ashamed of me for losing to a lady! But whatever!"_

Nevertheless, the ghost pulled himself from the boulder and lunged at Maddie.

But she was much quicker than he and her mauler made such an impression squarely to the middle of his face that he was knocked out cold before he got any closer to the woman.

Maddie sighed in relief. But she knew the fight wasn't over. She looked in the direction her son should be and saw that he was nearing the other smaller ghost.

Knowing that she could neither reach nor yell to her son, she anxiously kept her eyes glued to the scene.

Once his dizzying flight had finally slowed, Danny shook his head, trying to clear it after being hit yet again by Technus. He twisted around searching for the techno-ghost. He winced at the pain at moving and frowned in confusion when the mullet-haired ghost hadn't sent more pain to him. He didn't know, of course, that his mother had saved him from that trouble.

But he couldn't worry about it now because the Ghost Boy knew he still had to deal with Youngbutt…and his monkey. They were near another floating purple shelf that was very far from the one that, unbeknownst to him, his mother was currently on. He flew up to the still frozen ghosts, re-absorbed the ice surrounding them and waited for them—and him as well—to recover.

Once the frozen spots in front of Youngblood's and his monkey's eyes were gone, they gasped at the irritated glowing green eyes looking at them.

Not wanting to admit that he was still stinging from Technus' latest blast or that he finally recognized that unique costume the bratty ghost was wearing when he hadn't bothered to do before now, Danny crossed his arms and dryly said, "What are you supposed to be? Mini-Indy?"

Then looking at the skeleton monkey, Danny added with a smirk, "And are you supposed to be _Cheetah_? Aren't you in the _wrong_ movie or something lame like that?"

Both ghost boys ignored the irritated look and monkey-growl of 'Cheetah' at the sound of his 'name'. In fact, both of the boys ignored the monkey all together.

"Hey! I'm not Mini-Anything! And only _I_ can call him 'Cheetah' if I want! And just so you know, I'm the _real_ Indiana Jones and he doesn't take guff from anyone, especially one of the extras!" Youngblood yelled in a tizzy before reaching for his whip—only to find it was gone.

Gulping loudly, the ghost youngster still didn't want to let on that he was practically defenseless now.

But fortunately for Mini-Indy, his sidekick had already noticed what had happened and scurried right over and on top of the Fedora-dressed head before propelling himself right at Danny's face with skeletal monkey limbs spread eagle.

"Argghh!" Danny erupted as he grabbed the monkey now treating his face the same as an octopus would a clam and pried him off of him before flinging him away.

But Cheetah only charged at the Ghost Boy with more ardor.

" _Darn it! I wish I hadn't promised Sam that I wouldn't purposely hurt any animals!"_ Danny thought in irritation as he grappled with the Capuchin monkey with a lot less power than he would use if he was dealing with a more powerful human ghost.

But then, the corner of the Ghost Boy's lip hitched up into a mischievous grin as he mentally added, _"But I don't think she meant annoying_ _ **skeletal**_ _animals with hidden agenda!"_

He ended his thought with a shot of ectoplasmic green energy from his eyes slamming into his little primate foe.

Cheetah yelled as his skeletal body flew upward and away before arcing back down, only to land at the _same_ floating green shelf where Maddie was still anxiously waiting at.

" _I'll take over from here, sweetie!"_ the human woman mentally said to her son as she aimed her twirling Maddie Mauler at Youngblood's irritating sidekick.

The skeletal monkey screeched and darted away from the human, but Maddie squared her chin and uttered, "Oh, no you don't!"

She pulled her mauler apart so that she now had two Mini-Maddie Maulers in each of her hands. At first twirling her wrists so that the two glowing sticks were taking turns slicing the air in front of her, Maddie quickly poised herself so that either stick was effectively blocking the escape route of the monkey no matter which way he zigged or zagged.

Finally, one of her sticks made contact with the monkey when she zigged at the same time he did. He howled in pain at the jolt the mauler gave him, which knocked him completely out.

Maddie sighed in relief, but she didn't allow herself to lower her guard as she peered over to where her son was still engaged in battle with the final ghost…

Meanwhile, Youngblood had taken full advantage of his monkey's distracting the ghost hybrid. He anxiously searched the area and he wickedly grinned when he saw his whip! He soared over to it, and without slowing down a bit, grabbed it and twisted back toward his teenage foe. And just when Danny had given the boot to the skeletal monkey toward his mother's waiting maulers, Youngblood's eyes narrowed as he cracked the whip and sent its ends outward toward the teen Ghost Boy.

Suddenly, Danny's face scrunched up in a bit of alarm when he heard an oddly familiar sizzling sound heading his way. He reflexively jerked toward it, but winced as the pain that he still had from his earlier fight shot through him, slowing his movement enough so that his reaction had been too late. A moment later, the young ghost hybrid was reeling from an even more intense jolt of pain that seemed to shake him inside and out. His body was briefly encased in smoke with the whip's sting.

Seeing only spots before his half-open eyes, the Ghost Boy struggled to stay alert. He could feel his power bleed out from this last attack. Fortunately, his next few thoughts helped clear the cobwebs in his brain. Just how did Youngbutt get _that_?

But he had no more time to think about it as he was barely able to dart away from the next round of glowing strands eager to brand him. Even though he was successful, Danny nevertheless grunted with irritation—and pain—when he realized just how much these attacks had affected him.

Youngblood snickered in excitement when he could tell from how awful the teen ghost looked that this whip somehow was more powerful than he thought. Sure, this one glowed with pinkish, humming energy like no other normal whip. But he thought that that was all. But obviously, there was more to it.

"What's wrong, Phantom?" he wickedly chuckled as he reared his whip back yet again. "Can't take getting whipped by Indiana Jones?"

Danny was in no mood—or even in any condition—to throw an insult back. He now knew what Youngblood was wielding and he also knew that he had to avoid getting tangled up in that whip at any cost—or it would literally cost him more power if he did, as in losing _levels of_ power!

The Ghost Boy gasped when the whip was headed his way yet again! He bolted sideways this time. And it was none too soon that he had avoided that round, too, because the electrifying ends of the whip cracked so loudly at the end of their jolt that it echoed loudly in the ghostly atmosphere.

Youngblood growled in irritation as he flicked the wrist grasping the sizzling whip violently with another try.

Once again, Danny tried to whisk away when the duo-stringed whip radiating with pinkish, yet biting, electrical energy came charging at him; but once again, the teen wasn't fast enough. One of the cords found his right wrist and the other his forearm. They immediately wrapped themselves around their prey and drilled their electrifying pink energy into him as deftly as a scorpion's sting.

Ignoring the stinging pain and the aggressive hum of the whip, Danny desperately tried to peel the cords from his arm and wrist. But before he could, he was being yanked to his left with such force that he spun just like a toy top being released from its wind-up string.

"Yeoww!" Danny barely screamed out as the momentum threw him up into the green-and-black atmosphere and out toward the nearby purple shelf.

This time it was the Ghost Boy's turn to experience a hard introduction to the large black rock stubbornly embedded within that shelf. He slid to the bottom of it and lay still, panting in pain and exhaustion. As the teen tried to move, he cringed at a disturbing sound and movement near one of his legs. But then he sighed since there was nothing he could do about that now. So, he mentally counted how many times the bratty nine-year-old ghost had made contact with him with that whip. Was it three or four times? Really, it didn't matter since the teen just knew he must have fallen several power levels after all of those encounters and it would probably take him a couple of days to recover after this. After all, Danny now knew that the whip that Youngbutt was commanding had once belonged to Bullitt—even though he was still puzzled on how the little twerp had managed to get a hold of it. But that thought only fueled his determination to stop this fight without suffering from the biting end of that whip again.

Danny's quick hearing alerted him to the irritating hum of that electrical whip and he peeled himself off of the floor of the shelf and floated upward. Keeping in tune with his peripheral vision, he immediately willed out his wulf claws with his quick plan. He had done this before and…He suddenly hesitated. Had he really done this before, or had Vlad made him _think_ he had when he had to fight the fake Bullitt a few months ago?

Even after all these months, he still wasn't sure what had been real and what had not been real after Vlad had kidnapped him and forced him to battle all those ghosts…

Danny shook his head and refocused on the matter at hand. He couldn't think about that whole fiasco with Vlad right now.

Nevertheless, the teen was certain that the whip Youngblood had was… _that_ Bullit's whip. He had no idea how he had gotten it; but he was certain he couldn't afford any more hits from it.

Once he detected glowing movement too close for comfort, however, the Ghost Boy threw out those thoughts completely and tried to fly away. But once again, Danny felt a double dose of biting electricity pumping into his body and sapping more of his energy away!

Even as he screamed in pain at the duo's constant assault, Danny felt a surge of energy at his next thought. He had no time now to use that other power as he had originally planned—especially when he didn't think he had that much power left. But he _could_ use one of his earliest powers—the one he had discovered when he was a lot weaker than he was before this fight had begun.

Without hesitating any longer, Danny charged up a green ectoplasmic energy ray, twisted tightly right around and shot at the incoming double-ended whip. He instantly and effectively severed both of the ropes in one slicing blow and cut off their vibrant pink current delivering their pain to his body.

But he didn't stop there even though his body was screaming for him to do so.

As soon as the teen had rent through the pink ropes, he grabbed their ends. His hands immediately lit up in more intense green energy, which turned the tips of the pink bands green. A moment later, Danny's green energy melded into a large ball of bright white energy, which quickly engulfed his hands and the rope ends.

Danny violently slammed the quickly changing pink cords closely together and in the next swoop yanked on them as if they were now reins of a horse, sending the large white ball of light forward along the side-by-side pink cords.

More intense green beams of energy followed closely behind the huge white orb as it plowed the way along the pink ropes. The green beams of energy in turn seemed to push the white energy forward, and they were now chasing each other.

The momentum of the attack had now reversed. No longer were the pink beams thrusting their energy into Danny. Now, just like a lit fuse burning toward its stick of dynamite, Danny's green energy sizzled away from him and toward the source, stripping the beam from pink to an attacking green energy in its wake.

A heart beat later, Danny knew by the high-pitch, painful screams that his Ghost Stinger power had delivered a powerful punch to the snotty Mini-Indy at the other end of the ropes.

"Serves you right, Youngbutt!" Danny growled under his breath while rapidly scanning for his mini-foe.

Not seeing any sign of the brat—and now wondering why he hadn't seen Technus or that stupid monkey either for quite a while—the young hybrid unconsciously cupped his upper thighs, leaned on them for support—and a breather—and let his chin rest on his chest even as he still panted in pain and exhaustion.

But just as Danny lifted his head to check on where Youngbrat could be—though with how bad he was feeling he secretly hoped the nine-year-old was out for the count from his Ghost Stinger power—he was plummeted to the shelf he had been hovering over from a hard blow to his face.

Youngblood had managed to sneak up on the Ghost Boy and struck him with his satchel, which was still holding Technus's heavy treasure—which was, of course, a priceless metal machine.

Now satisfied that he had the upper hand, Youngblood chuckled wickedly as he slowly pulled out his whip once more…

Meanwhile, Maddie was pacing the shelf upon which she was marooned. Seeing that the fight between her son and that other smaller ghost was still raging—and still too far away—she grew desperately worried. She was torn between chancing to use the rocket booster to get to her son or coming up with another plan.

Suddenly, she gasped when her son was up in the air one moment and then being slammed to the ground at the next. And then he wasn't rebounding!

" _Get up, son, get up!"_ she silently screamed, becoming more agitated when it was looking more and more that her little boy was losing the battle with that other ghost.

What was a mother to do?

She frantically searched the horizon for some kind of answer before her eyes focused for the first time on the ghost still attacking her son. Her eyes widened in surprise; and ignoring her curiosity as to why he was dressed up as a smaller version of Indiana Jones, she smiled encouragingly when a quick idea answered her own desperate question, "Only what a mother _could_ do!"

Seeing that Technus and the ghost monkey were still completely KO'd, she ran around the boulder, pulled the jetpack quickly onto her back, and flew determined to carry out her idea…

"Now I have you, Phantom!" Youngblood crowed as he lazily moved the whip as if it were a slithering snake. But then the nine-year-old frowned in puzzlement and added, "Even though I don't know why you're fighting like a _Malforta_!" **[3]**

Danny groaned at the comment, his pain and dizziness, and with his effort to move again. If Youngblood only knew how true his comment was! Danny certainly felt as weak as a _Malforta_ at this point—all because of what Bullitt's whip could do to any ghost.

Still, just because he was spent physically didn't mean that his spitfire will was licked! He goaded himself to get up and fight on!

In the meantime, Youngblood frowned when he saw what he thought was his prey stirring. He couldn't have that! He lifted the whip upward in an anticipated strike when he suddenly froze, cringed and then turned toward at what he heard next.

"Lesley Oddbody, Junior!" a fuming female voice yelled out.

But since the Mini-Indy was too shocked to respond, the other ghost yelled even louder,

"JUNIOR!"

Danny struggled to pull himself off of the floor of the shelf at the sound of that shout. He caught his stumble before he scanned the horizon in spite of his blurred vision and finally saw the ghost who had just uttered that. His eyes widened. Great. Someone else to fight! And a scary-looking one at that! Still, he had better get his bearings on where Youngblood was before he could even try to defend himself against that newest ghost! He winced even when he was successful in getting to his feet. When he rapidly turned his head to search for the young scoundrel, his startled when he heard:

"Answer your mother, JUNIOR!"

Danny's eyes widened and darted between Youngbrat and the incoming ghost. What was this? Was Youngblood actually _cowering_ as that ghost approached him? Then it struck the teen and a smile broke over his face. It was now too obvious to Danny that his nine-year-old foe was also reacting to that…name.

"Wait. Is your name really _Lesley Oddbody,_ _Junior_? And is _that_ your mother? Yikes!" Danny couldn't help but chuckle, even as he winced when that hurt his burned and very bruised sides.

"I don't know who that lady is and my name is Youngblood 'cause it's way cooler than 'Oddbody'!

"Or better than Lesley the Loser?" Danny couldn't help but rebut.

"Arrgghh!" the bratty ghost yelled as he reared his whip for another round of pain for Danny.

Danny, of course, was in no condition to avoid the brunt, but he wasn't going to give the ghost brat any impression that he couldn't fight back. Still, the ghost teen braced for the pain…

….that _didn't_ come.

Scary Lily had grabbed the whip in mid-flight and yanked it from her son's hands before she threw it to the side and soared over to Youngblood.

Mortified at the realization of where her son must have gotten that wicked weapon, the female ghost's eyes twirled even faster as she gasped, "And you've been stealing things from your father's business again! What have we told you about stepping foot in the basement, Junior?"

She, of course, knew that her husband's job was to collect lost or abandon items all over the Ghost Zone. In short, what most considered junk. But at times, her husband found very valuable or powerful relics. If only her son would stop taking them!

The angry female ghost finally glanced over at the injured Danny. She frowned at him for more than one reason. Still, her green undulating hair seemed to be on fire now as she grabbed the naughty nine-year-old by his ear and angrily growled out, "Just wait until I get you home and tell your father that you haven't learned not to hurt other ghosts with the stuff you snitched!" And just as she twisted her son's ear and knocked his Fedora hat off in the process, she added with shame, "What a fine Mother's Day present you've given me, Junior!"

"Ow! Ow! Mom! That hurts! That's no way to treat Indiana Jones!" Youngblood yelled while swinging his arms in vain, both embarrassed and deflated by his mother's actions.

"Just be glad that I'm not treating you like how I would like to treat your annoying pet right now!" his mother angrily breathed, not at all mollified by her son's reactions.

But then, the scary-looking ghost turned to Danny, pointed to their left and radically changed her creepy face to a sweet-ish one and said in a suddenly very friendly voice, "I think there is someone else looking for you on that other green shelf over there. And have a wonderful day!"

Without saying another word to the teen ghost, Lesley and Lesley soared away from him.

Confused at what had just happened, Danny rubbed the back of his neck and immediately cringed when even that hurt! Still, underneath, he was very thankful that he wasn't going to be at the receiving end of that whip anymore—even if he had to be rescued by a banshee!

But then, he frowned when he remembered what the female ghost had said. He turned toward the shelf she had alluded to and wondered if it weren't a trap in the end. Wait. If it were a trap, she would have already sprung it just now! Well, at least, that is what he hoped.

The Ghost Boy lifted upward and squelched his groan as he slowly made his way to that other shelf.

He was nearly there when whom should he see but _his_ mother and…Technus and that stupid monkey?

Now instantly worried about _her,_ he yelled "Mom!" just as he alit near the unconscious ghosts. He glanced at the unmoving pair and his face scrunched in confusion even as he asked, "Are you alright?!" But then cringing on how much of his fight she might have witnessed, he gingerly added, "And, uh, what are you doing here?"

Maddie frowned and scrunched her nose up for a moment before she sheepishly smiled and replied, "I'm just fine!"

Then motioning toward the two ghosts, she added, "Well, I did run into a couple of ghosts while on my way to do a quick errand in here." She then pulled out her Maddie Mauler and chuckled slightly, "But, you know, I couldn't help myself!"

He chuckled in relief that she was safe and seemed to have gotten here after most of his fighting was done. But then, he frowned in thought. Then again, maybe not. After all, she hadn't mentioned at all how badly he must have looked!

But he didn't want to bring that all up except for one point.

He bit his lower lip when he noticed that same clinking sound he heard shortly after plowing into that black boulder. And for the first time since then, he crinkled his nose at how he _smelled._ Now he was very discouraged and said, "I'm sorry about ruining your day, Mom. He pulled out the broken bottle from out of his hazmat suit and sheepishly added, "But does it still count that I did get you a ghost gift like you wanted? I did get this perfume for you."

Maddie looked at his still singed and torn costume and how very beat-up he was. She didn't have the heart to tell him that the way he was smelling right now, she was very thankful _not_ to get that perfume. Instead, she softly said, "How can my day be ruined when I have such a brave son who's willing to fight all of those ghosts to get me a special gift?"

He smiled and reached for her hug, only to quickly regret that when it made him even sorer. Still, he gritted his teeth and said as nicely as he could, "Thanks mom. But I hope I didn't make us late taking you out to celebrate.'

She smirked, lifted both hands for him to see, and wiggling all of her fingers, replied, "Oh, don't you worry. My fingernails have been celebrating all day and the dinner will just be icing on the cake!"

He smiled crookedly and replied, "Thanks again, Mom."

But then he startled at his next thought, and cringed when _that_ hurt, too!

"Are you alright, honey?" she suddenly gasped, no longer able to hide her feelings.

"Well, not really, but just so you know, I'm a fast healer!"

She smiled when he finally admitted some of his little secrets he still kept from her.

But her son averted her attention to that detail at the moment when he continued, "What was your errand anyways? You're supposed to be getting all pampered today."

She then spilled it all out and told him about her wanting to return the teaspoon, and then everything else that had happened when she had gotten into the Ghost Zone, including her predicament about the Specter Speeder and the jetpack. She also told him how she ended up recognizing Youngblood, having just enough fuel in the jetpack to get to his mother's house to ask for her help—and to return the teaspoon. And how Youngblood's mother had taken her back to this floating shelf before she went after her wayward son.

Danny was speechless at first. It really hit home how lucky he was. But then he blurted out, "Have I ever told you that you're the best mom ever?"

"Better than Mrs. Oddboddy?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"No comparison…except on some days when you get up too early...ewww, scary!" he teased back.

She chuckled light-heartedly.

But after a brief pause, Danny then scrunched his brow, pointed toward something on the floor of the shelf and added, "And speaking of scary, I think we need to send these two creeps back to their lair before they catch us off-guard!"

She smiled in a mixture of pride and concern when her son produced his wulf claws, rent open two portals and threw each of the still out-for-the-count ghosts into them.

Knowing that she had no way to get home without him, Danny offered his hand to her and suggested, "Let's go home, Mom."

"But what about the Speeder?" she asked, as she obliged him.

"I think I'm feeling strong enough to push it from behind while you steer!" he said with a crooked smile.

But before they headed to the flying machine, Danny suddenly chuckled at the thought.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Maddie asked in concern.

"Oh, no, Mom," he began with a mischievous smile. "I just can't wait to call Youngbutt 'Junior' or 'Lesley the Loser' again. Or even 'Oddbody'!"

His mother added with a chuckle, "And speaking of derrieres, I'm sure that 'Junior's' bottom will be the same color as blush before too long—and he won't see his monkey for a long time!"

"Yeah, sounds like a good title of a lame movie: _Mini-Indy Meets Scary Lily_!" Danny said with a crooked smile.

They both suddenly burst out laughing just before they hurried home to celebrate Mother's Day.

THE END

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 **1\. The three-phase synchronous motor is used mostly in highly dynamic applications (for example in robots) and in electric cars. It was developed first by Friedrich August Haselwander in 1887. This is a REAL invention!**

 **2\. I totally made up the name of the weapon Maddie awesomely used in the "Maternal Instincts" episode. But I thought it was such an appropriate name in all ways, so voilà!**

 **3\. A _Malforta_ is a Level One shapeless ghost and the lowest level of ghosts in the Ghost Zone. If you had read my story, "Gold Tested in Fire" you would know that! *winks* Same thing about Bullit's whip!**

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 **A/N: Well, that was fun! I might now be inspired to continue to work on my next story. Hopefully, I can start posting soon. Thanks for your support, which, by the way, you may now tell me about in that little square below! *winks* Until next time, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of you cool moms out there! God bless you all!**


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